Red Corridor Fushimi

Fushimi Inari Taisha in southern Kyoto is famed for the senbon torii, the densely packed corridors of vermillion gates ascending Mount Inari that have been donated by petitioners since the Edo period. Morimura's print frames the receding tunnel of paired uprights and crossbeams in strict perspectival recession, the cinnabar lacquer contrasted against the dark calligraphic donor inscriptions on each gate's reverse. His characteristic flat color planes find an ideal subject in the saturated vermilion repetition, while dappled forest light filtering through the corridor invites his use of [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation. Although the site has become one of the most photographed in Japan, Morimura's mokuhanga interpretation returns it to traditional registers of sacred space and decorative pattern. The print sits within his sustained engagement with Kyoto religious architecture and the [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) tradition that identifies Japanese cultural identity with specific shrine and temple landmarks.